CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals: USA to crush Cuba

USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann could not have hoped for an easier quarter-final draw at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup than Cuba.

The Stars and Stripes, who are Coral’s odds-on 5/6 favourites for the tournament, have scored 20 goals in the last five meetings with these Caribbean foes.

Previous Gold Cup hidings of 4-1 twice and 5-0 thus explain why the US are overwhelmingly odds-on at 1/14 to win in 90 minutes and Cuba are rank 28/1 outsiders.

If punters take the above stat into account, then scoring four should be considered par for the Stars and Stripes, so a 4-0 victory has an awesome 11/2 price. Investing in the handicap markets is also wise here, with odds of 27/20 on offer for Klinsmann’s charges to start with a three-goal deficit and still win.

The USA have hit five and six against Cuba before, so there’s also a case for taking 3/1 on them winning despite a -4 weighting against them.

Should the scorer markets interest you, then there a few names on the Stars and Stripes roster that have netted in this fixture before. Chief among them is former Fulham forward Clint Dempsey, who also had a stint at Spurs across London.

Dempsey delivers at the Gold Cup – a fact no better illustrated than by the scoring charts for this edition, which he is currently join top of. Eight of his 44 international strikes have come at this tournament down the years, and two of his three so far this time around have broken the deadlock.

DaMarcus Beasley, briefly of Manchester City once upon a time, has been a late call-up to the Stars and Stripes squad. Gold Cup rules permit injured players to be replaced after the group stage has ended, and this is all to the good for Klinsmann.

Now converted to an attacking left back, Beasley has a brilliant record of three internationals goals in games with Cuba, and anytime scorer odds of 7/2 are superb despite now being deployed in a deeper role than in his youth.

There’s simply no case for Cuba here, and their only hope is to keep the score down, but they’ve failed on numerous occasions to stop the USA from running riot.

Coral’s best bet: Dempsey does deliver at the Gold Cup, so side with him to strike first at a fantastic 5/2.